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Philosopher's Stone
This article is about the magical object. For the book of the same name, see Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The Philosopher's Stone was a man-made, blood-red stone with magical properties. It could be used to create the Elixir of Life, which extended the drinker's lifespan, as well as transform any metal into pure gold. The famed alchemist Nicolas Flamel created the only known Philosopher's Stone in existence. Flamel used the Elixir of Life made from the stone to extend his and his wife Perenelle's lifespan for centuries. In 1991 the Philosopher's Stone became the target of the Dark wizard Lord Voldemort in his quest for immortality. Voldemort used a human host, Quirinus Quirrell, to seek it out at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where it was being held. The stone was originally stored at Gringotts Wizarding Bank in vault 713. However, possibly suspecting a threat, Albus Dumbledore had Rubeus Hagrid retreive the stone the very morning of an attempted robbery. After that, the stone was placed in a special chamber and guarded by various enchantments and creatures: A massive Three-headed dog named Fluffy; a web of Devil's Snare; charmed, flying keys; a life-size board of Wizard Chess; a mountain troll; a potion riddle; and The Mirror of Erised. Harry Potter and his schoolmates Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger suspected that the stone would be stolen. In overhearing out-of-context conversations, they believed the theif would be Hogwarts Professor Severus Snape. However, the intended theif was in fact Professor Quirinus Quirrell. Harry felt compelled to protect the stone and he and his friends, using intellectual power and heroism far exceeding their years, fought past the obstacles, until finally Harry was forced to face Quirrell and Lord Voldemort himself. In the final showdown, Quirrell lost his life, and Lord Voldemort lost his hold on the physical world. After securing the stone, Dumbledore and Flamel discussed its future, and agreed that it was best to destroy it. Flamel ensured he had enough remaining elixir to set his affairs in order before he would ultimately die. The Potion riddle The Potion riddle was an obstacle created by Severus Snape to prevent anyone from getting the Philosopher's Stone. As Hermione Granger noted, to get past this obstacle required intelligence; it didn't matter how powerful in witchcraft you were. Seven potions were aligned in front of Hermione and Harry. They were prisoners between a black fire and a purple one. They could read this poem: "Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind, Two of us will help you, whichever you would find, One among us seven will let you move ahead, Another will transport the drinker back instead, Two among our number hold only nettle wine, Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line. Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore, To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four: First, however slyly the poison tries to hide You will always find some on nettle wine's left side; Second, different are those who stand at either end, But if you would move onward, neither is your friend; Third, as you see clearly, all are different size, Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides; Fourth, the second left and the second on the right Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight." The reader cannot guess where the antidotes are between the fires, as he or she doesn't know the size of each bottle. But Hermione finds it. However, knowing where the anti-fire potions are, one can guess virtually all parameters (which ones are the smallest and the highest, and which are the poisons), but two different solutions fit. The most important: it can be logically demonstrated that a few size dispositions lead Hermione to the solution she announced. So it can be concluded that Snape's riddle was hard but solvable, with enough clues to lead to the right solution. Of course Hermione showed how smart she is, as most logicians would need pen and paper to solve this kind of enigma. It is most likely that Voldemort helped Quirrell to solve it, as Quirell is not very brilliant and Voldemort is very smart. The potion riddle is in fact solvable by the reader. However, one must take Hermione's answers into account in order to discover which potion is in each bottle. It goes as follows (1 is the far left, 7 is the far right) 1- Poison 2- Nettle Wine 3- Forward Potion (Black Flames) 4- Poison 5- Poison 6- Nettle Wine 7- Back Potion (Purple Flames) It can also be deduced that the largest bottle holds nettle wine. http://www.mugglenet.com/editorials/editorials/edit-rams01.shtml Category:Objects Category:Eponymous Titles